Lafayette’s environment has forced me to dive into myself and really think about who I am in relation to the Lafayette community and the society that I inhabit. Thanks to WORDS (the Writing Organization Reaching Dynamic Students), I have been able to gain a sense of self-understanding through writing poetry and performing at various events.

I am a transsexual man who transcends the physical form of Lafayette, leaving behind my inspiration, through poetry, when it is time for my physical self to depart. I think that words alone cannot explain what it feels like for me to finally be—Bryan Cornel Fox. I can only say people have to experience it. Life is an experience. My experience at Lafayette has welcomed me to my state of being, and I can’t thank this institution enough.

Be, as in boy. Be, for Bryan, the Bronx Bomber, the boxer that can pull off a huge victory even when his back is against the ropes, taking major body shots from society. Be, for better, as a matter of a fact, the best world-renounced heavyweight title defender, the oppressor’s number one contender. Be, as in Black.  Be, as in Boricua. Be, as in blood of the master and the slave.

This is the universal race that I claim to be, despite the fact that some of my own disowned me for saying things they don’t want to hear, for exposing them to things they weren’t ready to see, for being something that I wasn’t supposed to – be. As they continue to remain metaphorically shackled in chains to the system of oppression, I will forever be a plague. They continue to try and find a cure to put an end to me.

They won’t have it, but my words wreak havoc, and rip through closed-minded Latino and African American communities like the HIV virus. Be, as in the trails that I blaze, paving the way for people like me to finally stand up and say “I’m going to—be.”
~Bryan Fox

Bryan Fox ’10 received the Riley Temple ’71 Creative and Artistic Citizenship Award, given to a student whose creative scholarship in the visual and/or performance arts contributes to knowledge on societal issues of multicultural or intercultural concerns. It’s awarded each year at a ceremony celebrating commitment to promoting multiculturalism, diversity, and social justice on campus. He’s a double major in English and music from the Bronx, N.Y.

“One of the most important discoveries I have made is my gender identity,” Fox says. “Although it took courage and effort to let go of the fear of being different from the societal norm, it was something that had to be done. So in the summer of 2007, after I completed my first year at Lafayette and got my first taste of freedom from societal pressure to conform, I decided to make the transition from female to male via hormonal injection and future surgeries to come.”

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